Why
by aria710
Summary: Even after Majin Buu's defeated, Videl Satan still wants Gohan to train her, and Gohan willingly accepts. But not because everyone keeps insinuating about their 'relationship'. Oh no. And it's definitely not because he likes her...right? One-shot.


A/N:

Wow, that was such a long hiatus. I'm going to be perfectly honesty and wholeheartedly admit that this semester of school and martial arts is both figuratively and literally kicking my butt. I haven't written a single thing until...now. Well, untrue. I have tried to write several things and none of them ever worked out. So yeah. I hope I still have some fans out there that want to read this!

And strangely enough, it's not a B/V fic. It's actually Gohan and Videl, which is strange for me because I don't necessarily like Videl's character too much...which could explain some of the choices I've made with this story. Hm. Oh well. It's a oneshot since the creative juices are so minimal to even try to attempt a multi-chapter fic story. UGH. I'm creatively frustrated. I'll stop complaining.

Also, I know Gohan and Videl were kind of understood to have a thing during the Majin Buu saga, but I don't remember any lovely confessions of the sort! So here it is :D

Thanks to everyone who's reading this and all of those who also read my other stories! Oh and Happy Halloween!

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, or Dragon Ball GT. booo.

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><p><em>Why<em>

"Explain to me why this is necessary again, Gohan?"

She always had such a rough way of speaking, or rather, a rough way of approaching life. She didn't cut corners or hesitate. She always expressed herself directly, fully, and although he had first found that trait of hers...intimidating, a part of him was really starting to like it.

Gohan lowered himself to the grass and started stretching. "Well, ever since my dad came back, I've been training with him and Goten a lot during the day."

"I used to train with you and your brother too." She followed him down, short hair flying a bit from a small brush of wind. "Am I not invited anymore?"

"No! No, Videl! It's nothing like that. Just...things with my dad can get pretty intense, and sometimes we aren't always so good at remembering we're with other people. Even Goten has trouble getting out of the way."

She raised an eyebrow at that notion. "Are you saying that I'd be in the way, Son Gohan?"

He bit his lip. Okay, he still sort of found her intimidating. Even after Majin Buu and having all of his latent power released, she still made him feel nauseous, nervous. Gohan turned his head back up to the sky, painted dark with gleaming stars embedded in the distance. He remembered when he used to be afraid of the night, not because, like so many other things, it was a typical thing to be afraid of as a child. But he was afraid of himself, of that monster he would become. There was no moon, however, and Gohan had no reason to worry about those things a decade later. He wondered if he should tell Videl about his tail and how he used to transform. There was a brief thought of him telling her there was a chance his kids could do that too, and he immediately blushed at the thought. Why would Videl care about Gohan's future children?

"I just want to keep you safe. You're not as fast as Goten." The sentence could be potentially stinging to someone like Videl Satan, but the teenage girl made no argument. It was the truth anyway.

"Well, that's why you're training me." She paused, "Isn't it? For me to get stronger."

Gohan inwardly flinched at the statement for some unknown reason. That was why they were here. That was why he was up at 3AM after a long day of sparring and studying during his summer vacation. He was training Videl, and not only because she wanted to. She could be an asset in the future, just in case some other pink djinn decided to turn everyone into candy. Videl was a fighter, and yeah, maybe she hadn't really done anything in the past. And sure, human fighters were becoming a little obsolete when it came to saving the world, but they had potential too, right?

_Videl__ may __be__ weaker__ than__ my__ brother__ when__ he__ was__ 4__ months __old,__but__ she__'__s__ still__ precious._Gohan reddened even more.

Okay. Maybe not precious.

Valuable was a better word.

Yes, valuable. Like the Dragon radar or a spaceship. She was valuable like those inanimate, boring, ugly things. Things that didn't warm his skin when he thought about them or make him want to (and sometimes do) embarrassingly sing in the shower. Videl Satan was valuable, not _precious._

"I was sort of surprised you asked me again, Videl. I thought you only wanted to learn how to fly, and after everything..." Gohan fidgeted. He would never get used to talking to her. "After Majin Buu and the world sort of ending, I didn't think you'd really want much to do with me."

"You're kidding, right?" There was this strange look in her eyes, almost like concern dashed with a lot of humor. Videl stood up and stretched her arms. She began to open her mouth, wishing to say something for sure, but then she stopped. She hesitated.

Gohan stood up in slight surprise and anticipation, "Videl?"

"N-nothing. Never mind. I was just going to say that after seeing all that your family could do, why wouldn't I want to try to learn from you and get as strong as I possibly can?" Her blue eyes glanced down, hiding briefly from the starlight. She quickly fell out of her defensive stance."It's just...I grew up thinking my dad was the strongest man in the world for most of my life. I thought he was a savior."

"He is."

It was weird for those words to come out of Gohan's mouth. For the longest time he had thought the exact opposite. Hercule Satan was Gohan's scapegoat from an otherwise very confusing, abnormal life. How weird would it have been going to high school as the world's savior? How would he have dealt with all that fame and money and attention that would have been suddenly pushed on him? And though there were times he wished there was a city named after _him_, he knew he wasn't that type of person at all. If he really wanted all of that, he could easily just forgo his Saiyaman costume for a day.

Videl huffed at the response. "Don't patronize me, Gohan. You and your dad are the real deal. Mine..."

He didn't know what he was doing until it actually happened. Gohan found his hand on her shoulder, rubbing it gently and causing Videl to look up at him, blue eyes wide in confusion. A part of him didn't understand the look she was giving him although he had seen it once before. But that was a while ago, back at the tournament when he found her broken. His ki heightened a bit at the thought. "Your dad convinced everyone to help my father. Without him, we'd still be dead."

"If my father hadn't taken all the credit for beating Cell, the world wouldn't have hesitated to help Goku to begin with."

Gohan bit his lip. "I don't know. Vegeta really scared them. They needed a good talker."

She laughed a little and nodded, still not creating more distance between them. Which was nice, Gohan thought. It was surprisingly _really_ nice. He knew what people expected from them. His mother wanted him to marry Videl, not because of who she was but what she was entitled to. His dad always 'mistakenly' calls her his girlfriend and then goes on to explain what the difference is between marriage and food. _Bizarre._

Though none of them really compared to Goten and Trunks. There was a time when the terrorizing duo would follow the pair around, making kissing faces and noises and turning Gohan's face a bright red. Another reason he decided for the nighttime sessions. He didn't really feel like dealing with his family and Videl together. Not before he dealt with the thought of _him_ and Videl together.

She was nice to look at. That went without saying. He noticed it his first day of class and continued to notice it ever since. Her eyes stood out magnificently against her dark hair, even after she cut it off simply because he told her too. Gohan smiled a bit. Maybe he was more intimidating then he initially thought.

She was smart too. And strong for someone 100% non-alien. She loved fighting more than he did and understood everything about him.

Gohan turned his head back to her at the thought. They were still so close. Her breath seemed to find his body in the cool summer night air, stinging his neck and chest with welcomed warmth. He watched her tongue wet her lips. She was dying to say something. Dying to edge up or back, he couldn't tell. Gohan took a breath and let his hand move from her shoulder and pass through one of her longer bangs. _Why isn't she moving back?_

"Videl?"

"Hm?" She looked startled a bit at her name and cleared her throat. "Ye-yeah, Gohan?"

He had no idea what he was going to say. And usually, she would force it out of him, that rough tone of hers enticing him to just completely spill his guts out. But she only looked up at him, not even seeming to mind his calloused hands on her body. "...We should get training now, shouldn't we? That's why we're here, right?"

"Oh." Their proximity broke. "Right." Videl took another step back and grabbed her water bottle from behind. She took a giant swig of water and fell back into stance, soft look fading from her face. "Let's go."

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><p>"So you can't be blond again, can you?" She saw the weird face he was giving her and continued, "You know, after what that old Kai did. You said it won't be as effective anymore."<p>

Gohan turned at the seemingly weird question. He and Videl had been sparring for about two hours, and she seemed exhausted. He welcomed the break and laid down on the soft grass outside his home at Mt. Paozu. His thoughts were a mess, they had been for a while now. If it weren't for the fact that he was half-Saiyan, he was sure Videl would have won their spar. By a lot. A whole lot. He was so distracted with her movements, her grace, her ferocity. It was something he had noticed before, but everything in his life had been so heavy when his dad was gone, he never really had time to take it in. Not completely. Not like this.

"Why do you ask?"

And she of course had to lay next to him, leaving her water in hand's reach, her exhausted chest heaving from the workout. Gohan watched her closely and found himself suddenly dehydrated. Videl didn't seem to notice, "No reason. It was just...cool, I guess."

Hesitation again. Gohan didn't get it. "Cool? You prefer me with blond hair?"

He wanted to stop the sentence from ever coming out of his mouth. It wasn't like him to bait a person, at least, not when they weren't an enemy. But Videl's body stiffening made him fail to regret the question. "I never said that!"

"I didn't really think you liked blond guys, Videl. I mean, Sharpner's always hounding you and you never..."

"Shut up, Gohan!"

"What? It's true! You could have him easy, if you really like blonds that is. Hey, I bet you can even call him now and he'll pick up. Come on, Videl!"

"Gohan!" She sat up when she saw the young half-Saiyan move towards her backpack with her cell phone inside. "What's gotten into you? Don't you dare call, Sharpner!"

"Why?" Gohan had no idea why he was doing this, but he loved the way Videl was reacting. He held the bag tauntingly, and he could feel himself smirk, something that normally didn't happen unless he was in battle. Something that really only happened when he let his emotions control him.

"Because I said so you idiot, that's why!" Videl was faster than he thought, and soon she had the bag back in her position, not before sending a well deserved punch into Gohan's shoulder. "Besides, I could ask you the same thing, you hypocrite."

The seriousness of her voice seemed to calm Gohan down. He sat back down in the grass, cross-legged. "Huh? What do you mean?"

"I mean, Erasa. She called dibs on you as soon as you walked through the door."

Gohan grimaced at the thought. Not that he didn't like the girl, it was just she and Videl were best friends. And if she had 'claimed' Gohan already, then Videl couldn't...

He shook his head, seeing Videl expecting an answer. "I don't really like her like that."

"Oh? Prefer brunettes?"

He blushed. _Possibly._ "No...it's just...when you're me, you have to be careful about that sort of thing."

With her interest spiked, Videl immediately sat down across from Gohan. "Oh please explain."

"I...I mean, with my family. You can't just go around dating all these people and inviting them into your lives. It's risky. We're _aliens_ after all, and Goten's too young to keep his mouth shut about my dad coming back from the dead."

Videl nodded at his words, looking suddenly worried. "...I'm sorry about that. That I never asked, I mean. I just assumed they got separated or something."

"Yeah, well, they kind of did."

"You saw it, didn't you? You were there."

He looked up at her words, getting caught in her ice like eyes for what must have been the hundredth time in two hours. "Huh?"

"Him die." Videl scooted closer and grabbed his hands. They were rough like she was, but so warm and small. The contact made his heart hurt horribly, the sudden energy flooding through him a whole different situation than what he was accustomed to. "I...I couldn't imagine seeing that."

"It's okay," Gohan said even though for a while it hadn't been. He had hated himself after that moment. He would have given everything to not have been such a cocky bastard during his fight with Cell, but the transformation had been too much, too powerful. He felt like he was invincible, and although he almost was, he failed to remember that everyone around him wasn't.

He found himself shaking his head. He couldn't lie to her. "I mean, it wasn't. Especially after Goten was born. I...I felt so guilty that he'd never meet his father because of me."

"It wasn't because of you, Gohan. It was because of Cell."

"I know that now. Trust me." He smiled wide, so like his father, and it seemed to brighten Videl's mood a bit. "It's...it's a part of this business, self sacrifice."

Videl raised an eyebrow, "You mean the business of saving the world?"

Gohan laughed a little, "Yeah, I guess I do mean that." He was staring at their hands again, how easily her fingers slipped into his. "Another reason I have to be careful with girls."

That seemed to startle her. "Oh?"

"Yeah." Gohan reached for her other hand, and smiled seeing how easily she gave it to him. "They need to be brave and strong, like my mother is. Not necessarily physically, but emotionally. Because there may be more battles out there, and there's always something that could go wrong."

"Gohan..."

"She needs to be willing to accept that there may be a day when I won't be there when she wakes up in the morning. She needs to understand that even though I may not like it, I'm a fighter. It's part of who I am. I'm a Saiyan, and she needs to be able to deal with that."

He glanced up slowly, afraid to gauge her reaction, but he only saw a small smile on her face. Videl was looking at the grass still. "...I don't know if Erasa could handle that."

"I don't think she can."

"But...some girls can. I'm positive about that."

Gohan rubbed his fingers over her hands, "Oh yeah?"

"Mhm. And...maybe it's worth the risk to let those girls in. Because, you know, you could have something really amazing together." She flushed, "With those other girls, I mean."

"Videl."

He had never seen her so nervous before, but her intense anxiety only seemed to seep his away. She was cutting corners now, being indirect. It was so unlike her and yet, Gohan was happy he'd be the one to say it. "Yeah, Gohan?"

"I like you."

Plain and simple, he had said it. Her eyes had never looked any bigger than when he said those words. Even after getting her ass kicked at the tournament, even when she was facing death, Gohan never imagined he saw her as scared as she was right now. "Go-Gohan."

He dipped his head in, not really sure how to go about this, but wanting to all the same. There was little resistance to his lips touching hers, and soon, he found himself leaning over more, one hand in the dirt by her side, and one fumbling through her hair. He was hovering over her now, the contact of her wet, warm lips making his body sing with happiness and his mind half-think his confession had been too mild.

When his hands traced her legs, she flinched as he came in contact with a particularly purple bruise. Gohan inched away, scratching his head and mumbling, "...Sorry."

"For real?" Videl smoothed out her clothes and followed him up. "You're sorry about that?"

There was the Videl he remembered. "Well, yeah...I mean, I know we're only here to train and not..."

"Please, Gohan." She grabbed the top part of his purple gi and smiled. "That's not why we're here."

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><p>AN:

Short, but I needed to get something out there! GAH! Okay, back to hitting my head on my desk for not studying for my tests/to try to get ideas. Thanks for reading and please leave a nice motivating review :) Until next time!


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